American Temperament Test Society
“A sound mind in a sound body”
About Canine Temperament
Because of breed-specific dog legislation and negative publicity associated with many breeds of dogs, temperament testing has assumed an important role for today’s dog fancier. The ATTS Temperament Test provides breeders a means for evaluating temperament and gives pet owners insight into their dog’s behavior. It can have an impact on breeding programs and in educating owners about their dog’s behavioral strengths and weaknesses as well as providing a positive influence on dog legislation.
What is temperament?
W. Handel, German Police Dog Trainer, in his article, “The Psychological Basis of Temperament Testing,” defines temperament as:
“the sum total of all inborn and acquired physical and mental traits and talents which determines, forms and regulates behavior in the environment”
The ATTS test focuses on and measures different aspects of temperament such as stability, shyness, aggressiveness, and friendliness as well as the dog’s instinct for protectiveness towards its handler and/or self-preservation in the face of a threat. The test is designed for the betterment of all breeds of dogs and takes into consideration each breed’s inherent tendencies.
The test simulates a casual walk through the park or neighborhood where everyday life situations are encountered. During this walk, the dog experiences visual, auditory and tactile stimuli. Neutral, friendly and threatening situations are encountered, calling into play the dog’s ability to distinguish between non-threatening situations and those calling for watchful and protective reactions. *ATTS website
To start the test your dog needs to be on a 6 foot leash with a flat collar, no training devices can be used. You walk to each station without talking or correcting your dog. You complete a station and you are asked by the chief tester to continue on to the next station.
You are asked to come onto the field to start the test, before you start the chief tester and the testers have a brief meeting to discuss the application you filled out, on the application it asked what events your dogs had done and if any titles and your dogs disposition and health. Each breed is tested differently so they go over that breeds criteria.
Once they are done with their discussion then you are asked to start the test.
Station #1 – Neutral Station: I was at this station so I didn’t get any pictures. I’m a pretty neutral person, eh? I was actually chosen to be at this first station because of my work and experience with dogs. I was to get a feel for the dog first off so that if I picked up on anything or got mixed signals from the dog I could alert the next person in line to be careful with the dog. Luckily all the dogs were great and showed me no signs of being wary of them. The neutral stranger walked up to the person ignoring the dog, shook hands had a brief conversation and then sat back down.
Station #2 – Friendly Stranger:
The friendly stranger came up and approached the dog and started petting it and talking to it.
Station #3 – Hidden noise: A person behind a blind shakes a bucket with rocks in it as the dog is approaching and then sets the bucket on the outside of the blind so the dog could look into it.
Station #4- Gunshots: The handler stops at the station with their back to it and waits for the gunshots.
Station #5 – Umbrella: You walk up to this station and a person opens an umbrella and you keep on walking and the dog should go and check out the umbrella.
Station #6 – Plastic footing: You have your dog walk across a strip of plastic.
Station #7 – Wire footing: Your dog walks across a wire fence (ex-pen) that is laying flat on the ground.
Station #8 – Non threatening: A weird stranger comes out from behind a blind mumbling softly.
Station #9 – Threatening: The weird stranger walks closer to you talking loudly.
Station #10 – Aggression: The weird stranger gets really aggressive with his words, tone of voice and has a whip stick that he is snapping.
At the end of the test the handler will receive a critique of the test and will be told if they passed or failed. If they passed a certificate will be mailed out to them.
This was Roxann and her dog Lobo that took the test while I took pictures of them at each station. Lobo did great and passed. Thank you Roxann for being my blog post test subject.
Guilty and Riggs were the Sand Spring dogs that I took. They both scored evenly right down the middle of the score sheet meaning they have an even temperament which is a good thing. They passed the test.
Riggs
Riggs made the testers laugh, when he was at the gunshot station he started squatting to take a pee, he was peeing when the gunshot went off and he continued to pee until he was done then he turned around to see what he should be fetching up.
Guilty
Guilty’s highlight of the test was when she came upon the umbrella she was like yea whatever my mom used to open these things when I was a little puppy and she sat down in front of it and stared off into space waiting for some birds to fly on by.
I enjoyed working this test because I got to watch how each dog completed the test. Thanks to Canine Solutions LLC for hosting this event and to the club members that volunteered their time to help make this a successful day I thank you all.
Never heard of that, but it sounds like it would be fun to give a try since it is different for different breeds.
That is so cool. Of course, both of my boys would fail this test because they would react to the stranger like crazy dogs! Lobo is gorgeous!
Great information and photos, and congrats to Riggs and Guilty. Most of our walks are on busy city streets, so we’ve had our share of “weird stranger” encounters. 😉
that’s interesting … I just imagine how I would do with phenny… or no, I better don’t imagine that LOL
Great job with your gang. And how cool to be a part of the test for other dogs.
That is so interesting, and sounds kind of fun too! It has to be so great to see your dogs do so well, knowing how all your hard work when they’re puppies is paying off.